Bloomberg donates to Hopkins, KKK fliers found in Howard Co. and more
Bloomberg donates $1.8B to Hopkins
Michael Bloomberg, the former New York mayor who is weighing a 2020 presidential run, is donating $1.8 billion to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins, according to CNN. The university and Bloomberg are calling it the biggest contribution to an academic institution in American history, according to a press release — and the gift’s record-setting size will not be lost on possible challengers in a Democratic primary. Last week, Bloomberg said he plans to decide on a 2020 bid no later than February, a spokesperson confirmed to CNN. The gift will fund financial aid for qualified low- and middle-income students, allowing the university to forever make admissions decisions on a “need-blind” basis — without considering an applicant’s ability to pay, according to the press release. The contribution also eliminates student loans from financial aid packages, replacing those loans with grants that don’t need to be repaid. The change will ease the burden of student debt for many graduates and make the campus more socioeconomically diverse, Bloomberg wrote in a New York Times op-ed in which he explains his rationale for the gift and the impact it will have. “America is at its best when we reward people based on the quality of their work, not the size of their pocketbook,” he wrote.
Read more: Bloomberg donates record $1.8B to Johns Hopkins
Also see: Michael Bloomberg Donates $1.8B to JHU to Make Admissions ‘Need-Blind’
KKK Fliers scattered around Ellicott City
Police are investigating dozens of fliers filled with hate speech found a street in Ellicott City, according to WJZ. Authorities aren’t saying what the flier said or what it looked like, but revealed about 40 of them were found along Main Street Nov. 17. “It looks like the street was littered with about 40 of these fliers. Once we got two reports that came in, we immediately went out to the area and collected all the ones that were visible,” Sherry Llewellyn , of Howard County Police said. County Executive-elect, Calvin Ball, the first African American elected to his position, said, “we will rise to this challenge.” Last week, neighbors in Anne Arundel and Prince George’s counties awoke to KKK fliers in their driveways.
Read more: Hate-Filled Fliers Scattered Through Ellicott City, Police Searching For Suspects
Photo of Hitler with part-Jewish girl auctioned for $11k
A photograph of Adolf Hitler hugging a part-Jewish child and a letter by Albert Einstein predicting the rise of Nazi anti-Semitism fetched five-figure sums at two separate auctions. The picture, dated 1933, shows Rosa Bernile Nienau, whose grandmother was Jewish, being hugged by the Nazi leader outside his home in Bavaria, the sellers said. Hitler met the girl when she was about 6 years old at his birthday party in Bavaria that year. They were both born on April 20. The picture, which Hitler signed with an inscription to Nienau, was sold last week for $11,520 at the Alexander Historical Auctions in Chesapeake City, Md., CNN reported. Hitler and Nienau exchanged several letters. Nienau’s mother, Karoline, was a nurse and acquaintance of Hitler, and had brought her daughter to his birthday party, where they bonded, the auction house said, based on research. “Research shows that even early on, Hitler became aware of the girl’s Jewish heritage but chose to ignore it, either for personal or propaganda reasons,” the auction house said in the description of the item. When Martin Bormann, a high-ranking Nazi cabinet minister, discovered her non-Aryan origins, “he forbade mother and daughter access” to Hitler’s residence, the auction house also said. Nienau died in the 1940s at a hospital from a spinal infection. Separately, a handwritten letter by Einstein, the Jewish inventor of the theory of relativity, was sold Nov. 13 for nearly $40,000 in Jerusalem, The New York Times reported. The Kedem Auction House says the previously unknown letter, brought forward by an anonymous collector, fetched $39,360. Einstein wrote the letter to his sister after going into hiding in 1922 following the assassination of Germany’s Jewish foreign minister, Walther Rathenau, by right-wing extremists. Police had warned the Jewish scientist that his life could be in danger too, according to the Times article.–JTA
Yiddish ‘Fiddler’ extended in NY
A production of “Fiddler on the Roof” in Yiddish has been extended and will move to a new theater. The producers announced Nov. 14 that the show will be moving to the off-Broadway venue Stage 42. The all-Yiddish production has been playing off-Broadway at the Museum of Jewish Heritage since opening in July. The production by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene was scheduled for an eight-week run but has been extended four times. It will continue to play at its original venue until Dec. 30, with previews at Stage 42 starting in February. Broadway actor Steven Skybell and Emmy Award nominee Jackie Hoffman will continue in their roles as Tevye and Yente. Other casting decisions have yet to be announced. This production of “Fiddler” — or “Fidler Afn Dakh” — marks the first time that the Tony Award-winning musical is being performed in Yiddish in the United States and only the second time in its history (a Yiddish version ran for about four weeks in Israel in 1965), according to NYTF.—JTA
More than 2,000 handmade Jewish stars hung throughout Pittsburgh
The stars, created by more than 1,000 volunteers from around the world, were hung on Nov. 17 by 40 volunteers. Each star – some crocheted, some made with leather – had a heart in the center. The stars were the brainchild of Hinda Mandell and Ellen Dominus Broude, who created the Facebook page Jewish Hearts from Pittsburgh in response to the attack at the Tree of Life synagogue building in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood that left 11 worshippers dead. The page called for donations of handcrafted stars to help strengthen the community in the wake of the tragedy. On Oct. 28, Mandell on her own Facebook page provided patterns for knitters, suggested sizes and colors and deadlines of what she calls “Jewish Hearts.” On Oct. 30 she and Broude set up the Jewish Hearts from Pittsburgh page. The women, both from New York, opened a post office box to receive the stars. They arrived from 12 countries, including New Zealand and Qatar, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Stars were sent by Catholic school children from Little Rock, Ark., students from a Hebrew school in London, residents of Parkland Fla., a survivor of the Columbine High School shooting in Colorado and a Quaker woman from Pueblo, Colo., according to the newspaper.
Read more: More than 2,000 handmade Jewish stars hung throughout Pittsburgh
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Jmore Publisher Scott Rifkin, M.D., pays tribute to Marc Terrill and his 20-plus years leading The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore.
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